Reflections on the 2012 A to Z Challenge

It’s been quite a journey, but one that has been hugely valuable. I’ve enjoyed it immensely. As it was the first blog hop and challenge I’d taken part in I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was hoping for more readers of my books, my blog and some greater understanding of how this internet thingy works. I’ve been blogging for myself for some time. I think this helped to turn my thoughts towards blogging for others.

Putting my own A to Z list together took a lot of thought and a lot of work, but frankly it was work that needed to be done. There were aspects of the Princelings stories that had been clear in my mind when I wrote them. Some of those had been written 3 years ago already, and they weren’t entirely clear to me now, or, worse, had changed their meaning over time. The discipline of the A to Z helped me to make decisions on some woolly areas. It also developed some thoughts that had been lurking in the background and sparked new ideas for stories and/or books. I like the idea of some shorter tales, maybe adventures of minor characters, made into a compendium with some of Crown Prince Fred’s Philosophical Journal Papers, or George’s engineering discoveries!

I also gained many followers who I hope will continue to visit. That makes me think of what I should be blogging for them. I think my mix of book reviews, news of my own books, and background to the Princelings is an interesting mix for my followers. I’ve been wondering about guest writers, but the idea of interviews with my characters intrigues me more. Please feel free to add comments on content you’d like to see!

I enjoyed working through the blog hop side of things too, but was frustrated by the difficulty of commenting on Blogspot blogs. There is a technical reason for this, which I have partly solved by opening a new wordpress blog, Jemima Pett: The Princelings Series, which enables me to comment using the ID jemimapettauthor. But it still isn’t putting my picture with that ID on blogspot blogs! The Princelings Series is now the official website for the books. It has content on the books as they are published, reviews, special offers – things solely to do with the books, not me. This means the A to Z of Princelings belongs there, but blogging new entries could do just as well here. I will sort it out on the website so that the entries are in proper alphabetical order, including any future A to Z listings, since on here they always appear back to front!

I have listed a lot of blogs I visited and enjoyed in my Z to A backlist. I think I’ve made new friends, and I hope to visit them often. It’s nice to meet them elsewhere on the net too – some I’m in contact with on Twitter now. I didn’t get to as many blogs as I’d have liked though, since doing my ambition of 10 a day would only see me through 300 and I didn’t quite make that. I had a lot of promotional work to do in April and I’m using that as my excuse. I’m planning to continue visiting through May though.

So, would I do it again? Yes! I might start making a list of topics now, ready for next year. There is plenty more to come on the A to Z of Princelings. I might struggle for more X entries, though. Maybe I shall name a few characters or locations with X and Z to help me out!